Hot Protector(73)

“I like you, Sophie. I’ll always like you.”

He got to his feet and strode out the door, shutting it quietly behind him while her heart cried out at his words. They were everything in one way—and nothing at all in comparison to the words she wanted.





32


“Man, the shit that’s in these files.”

Billy Blake’s eyes shone with excitement as he scrolled through the newly decrypted files. It had taken almost twenty-four hours to bust through, but he’d done it.

Pages and pages, all in Russian. Chase scraped a hand through his hair and tried to keep his cool.

“Does anyone read Russian?” he asked. Calmly, he thought. But Hawk and Kid turned to him. Matt “Richie Rich” Girard and Garrett “Iceman” Spencer were there too, having returned from their R & Rs yesterday. They were all looking at him like he’d kicked a puppy or something.

“Got that handled,” Hawk said. “Send them over, Kid.”

Billy tapped a couple of keys and the files shot through the ether, going somewhere.

Chase’s eyes were gritty and his whole fucking body ached. Too much excitement and not enough sleep. Their plane had landed a couple of hours ago, and Matt had met them rather than letting them take the car they’d left in the lot, driving them to Hawk’s offices in a nondescript building in Annapolis. They weren’t too far from HOT HQ or from DC. It was a great location, and it still kept Hawk closer to home on the Eastern Shore.

The offices were modern and filled with state of-the-art equipment. But it wasn’t HOT. At least there was a private area with couches and a small kitchen. Evie Baker, soon to be Girard, had taken Sophie there for some coffee.

Sophie. Fucking hell, he tried not to think too hard about Sophie, but that was damned near impossible since he’d just spent seven hours in a flying tube with her head on his shoulder. She smelled good. Looked good. For a while he’d wished they really were Nathan and Beth Chandler, two innocent people on their honeymoon, starting their life together.

But they’d landed and reality crashed down. She was his fucking stepsister and his fucking father was a part of her life. And his mother would be hurt if Tyler suddenly became involved in Chase’s life—where the fuck would they spend Thanksgivings? Christmases? Sophie might not have had a great life with Tyler and Justine, but she still loved her mother and she’d want to see her.

And that meant Tyler would be there.

Chase’s mother had always said she didn’t hate him, but Chase didn’t know how she couldn’t. She’d given Tyler his address because she was kindhearted and she’d believed him when he’d said Sophie was in danger. That was the only reason.

He blew out a breath and flopped into a chair.

“Dude, you all right?” Hawk asked.

“No, not really. I want this over with, and I want Sophie to have her life back. Who the fuck is going to read all that Russian and translate it for us ASAP? Who can you trust to do that?”

Hawk lifted an eyebrow. Chase knew he was being a cranky bastard, but his teammates forgave him for it. They’d all been there at one time or another.

“Mendez.”

Chase blinked. “You mean HOT’s involved?”

“Yeah… and Mendez is reading, along with a couple of handpicked translators.”

“Mendez is reading it? The colonel speaks Russian?”

Iceman snorted. “Yeah, who the fuck knew, right? I mean, it has to be in his record, but it’s not like that’s the sort of thing we have access to. Fucking badass dude reads and speaks Russian.”

“Holy shit.” Not for the first time, Chase felt pride in his organization and his commander swelling his chest. Jesus, that Mendez was a badass motherfucker. You didn’t get to be in command of an organization like HOT by being anything less than stellar, but sometimes commanders got so entrenched in the desk jockey aspects of the organization that you forgot they’d once been operators.

And Mendez must have been a damned good one.

“Yeah, holy shit. But if there’s anything in there, he’ll figure it out. We’ll know something in the next few hours. Until then, you and Sophie can crash.”

Chase rubbed his fingers over his eyes. “I’d rather stay here until we know.”

“We’re all staying here,” Matt said. “Brandy and Victoria are on the way, and so are Knight Rider and Georgie. Flash is still on his honeymoon. Big Mac and Lucky are flying back from the Caribbean, and Dex is still in Kentucky.”

Chase’s throat was tight. This is what family was to him. The ties you made voluntarily were just as strong, sometimes stronger, than the ones you were born with. In his case, that was certainly true. He’d do more for these fuckers than he’d ever do for Tyler Nash.